parkrun promises happy ever after

The day of love is upon us and as Australians gear up to spend a whopping $23 million on Valentine’s gifts, dinners, drinks and flowers, one Australian couple are thanking parkrun Australia for shooting cupid’s arrow, without spending a single cent.

Equine Physiotherapist, Hayleigh Reid and her husband Nigel have mapped out the perfect parkrun love story, having met at Mount Barkers parkrun two years ago and united through a love of running.

“Nigel and I met at our local parkrun and were introduced by our mutual friend, Abby. We recognised each other from running parkrun there regularly. We ran parkrun together that day and as they say, the rest is history!” Hayleigh said.

In the two years that have followed since that first parkrun date, Nigel and Hayleigh have got engaged, tied the knot and welcomed their first baby into the world, a beautiful daughter who was born at the end of 2018. “We are both fit, outdoors, healthy people and we often wonder “what if” – what if Abby and parkrun had not introduced us!”

“We love parkrun and we have already done a couple with our little girl in the pouch. I am sure she will love it too as she grows up” Hayleigh said.

Fostering a healthy lifestyle and offering a free platform for the community to join together to exercise outdoors is the fundamental goal of parkrun, but matchmaking, meeting and marriage proposals are a definite added bonus.

Much research supports exercise being integral to health and happiness and wellbeing is also strongly linked to having supportive relationships and strong social networks. parkrun combines the two, bringing together all the benefits of exercising together as a cohesive, supportive community.

With over 345 locations across Australia, couples and singles alike could skip the sweets and spending this Valentine’s Day and show up at their local parkrun this Saturday instead. Whether it’s forming friendships or falling in love, a 5km run or walk at parkrun with like-minded people has all the ingredients to be a recipe for success.

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